My mom, Encarnación Pons, a commercial airline pilot for 23 years, was the air hostess who had to work during this flight. Before becoming a pilot, she worked as an air hostess for 10 years, and she was stationed in Tenerife. She received a call that day asking to please come and board because she was an English speaker, and the other air hostess who spoke English was ill and asked to stay at home. When she was at the airport, the other girl said she was feeling better and asked to work for that day instead. While my mom was driving her Mini Cooper back to her house, she witnessed the plane crashing into pieces. I always feel how close I was to not exist. I would not be here today writing this if my mom had worked that day almost 50 years ago.
Wow! Since chills up your spine. It’s sad that the other lady had to die. But I’m glad that your mother lived and that you’re here!!! 😊 Isn’t that funny to think about, Erie funny!
Everything has a constructive curve. Imagine the eye surgeries back in the 1800s. We always stand on the shoulders of those who suffered in the past. More so with the aviation industry.
I feel bad for these people they died from miscommunication and impatience you guys don’t have to like this comment just give those passengers and workers who died respect
@@alioumaiga6116 Not mostly, modern plane flight training focuses on being able to fly by instrumentation and traffic control instruction, that's why they can fly in pitch black at night, if the communication was done properly and the plane hadn't tried to take off before they 100% knew they had clearance this would never had happened. Similar communication mishaps have caused similar crashes in perfect visibility.
@@apolakigamingandmore6376 I never denied visibility wasn't a thing, but modern flying techniques and air traffic control is supposed to be followed so just visibility isn't relied on. Since the visibility was bad, the crew should have been extra diligent about knowing exactly what they're supposed to be doing according to direction from the tower, and be 100% sure that the runway is clear.
It’s scary to realize my grandmother and grandfather would be on the KLM flight but just that morning they got a call with the question if they wanted to take a plane later because it was overbooked. They accepted it and took a flight later. And when this accident was on the news my mom and her siblings thought there parents where dead. Can’t believe how happy they where when they heard their parents took a flight later. They’ve been so so so lucky.
@@robertfeeley9738 technically it’s 100% human error, because humans also designed the systems and airframes, so every crash that has caused is also originally human error
@@marianandnorbert Human error as in the here and now. This means the humans which have to work with the systems and protocols they have been given and obeying them.
Great 16 - Miscommunication hell. There was no "miscommunication" at all. The plane NEVER had clearance to take off. The KLM pilot was an arrogant bastard who decided he could disregard rules.
@@aspiringcaptain But as I stated above, there was no "miscommunication" at all. That plane NEVER had clearance to take off. It was entirely the fault of the arrogant KLM pilot.
To be fair, the early and “primitive” protocol for communication is also to blame. As explained at the end. Clear for takeoff, standby for takeoff, ready to takeoff, can sound very similar on a radio especially in that time, which can easily lead to misunderstandings in communication. This is why a set, strict standard for communication is so important.
@@CelestisForgeUK There was NO "misunderstanding" in communication!!!! The pilot proceeded to take off before be got final clearance. That was IT!!! PERIOD!!!!
@@TheTonyspoons DUDE, do some logic training. It's never just one thing? Funny, the system worked for 100s of thousands of other pilots and flights at the time. This SOB decides to ignore this one thing and 583 people get killed. There was no "comedy of errors" here, DUDE. If this arrogant SOB had followed the rules, the accident NEVER would have happened. PERIOD.
It's still unfathomable how the KLM captain was so situationally unaware. With all of the adverse conditions present, he literally threw caution in the air and caused over 500 deaths!
It was because he was used to training new KLM pilots in the pilot training simulator, which doesn't require ATC Clearance or real world consequences when something goes wrong like a crash.
Not really. I think it was Air Crash Investigations that delved into it a lot more deeply. That was a good 45-50 minutes devoted to the tragedy. I would recommend that. This video is okay but it's just skimming the surface. The KLM pilot was a bit of authoritarian figure, he was in a mad rush to get off the ground. That was the final box tick to a terrible tragedy.
@@terrythekittieful there's also a great short documentary made by the Spanish public television which includes interviews with the controller and some members of the Pan-Am crew, and also the real radio communications with both planes but unfortunately it's only available in Spanish, however the auto-generated subs make a decent job: th-cam.com/video/0gzMq9UCFFs/w-d-xo.html
Instrument certifications allow you to do things like that. Fog and restricted visibility only require that you have reliable instruments. Runways are a constant. Visibility doesn't alter the runway direction or length. If you get the right indicators, you can take off in a plane with zero visibility.
They should have closed the airport once the dense fog rolled all over the place. But nobody wanted to take that decision. I was a kid in elementary school at the time and when I heard about the disaster, I drew a picture of two jumbo jets colliding. The only elements that I understood about the whole taxiing thing was that one the jets was in between taxiway and runway. So the only logical conclusion I drew was that that plane was coming off the taxiway onto the runway. Because never could I have understood at that age, that they had to use the runway as taxiway. It's easy to blame the Dutch Captain but do you really think he didn't care about killing himself and hundreds of passengers? If one man breaks the rules in the system and the entire system collapses, it means the system wasn't safe to begin with. Also, there were only two (2) controllers at the airport because there was an important football match on television. In other countries, they would have called in all available hands because with all the international flights diverted to this small, regional airport, it was an emergency situation to begin with.
K.L.M. regulations and the impatience of the Dutch Pilot killed 583 people. Even the WW-2 Japanese Kamikaze pilots did not take off without permission and they were on suicide missions. Could not wait 3-5 minutes.
The captain had also prior to the crash been flying a lot of time in a simulator, teaching becoming pilots how to fly an airplane. But in a simulator you are your own controller, and after doing lot and lots of take-offs in the simulator he thought at Tineriff that he already was given take-off clearance, partially because ha had been flying so much in the simulator.
@@antonberglund117 I think this was one of the reasons why it went terribly wrong. As an 747-instructor captain Jacob Veldhuizen van Zanten flew a lot in the Flight Simulator. But I also think that the fact that the captain had to take off within a certain time due to the fact that the cockpit crew had to stop working would result in paying the costs for hotels etc. by KLM. Studying a combination of facts can lead to a interesting view on this subject, because I refuse to believe that captain Jacob Veldhuizen van Zanten is fully responsible for all of this. In other words, if the airport had ground radar, if the PANAM-747 had left the runway on time, if the weather conditions were good with no fog, etc.
+@ORGO Strange how Dutch said Spanish air traffic controllers English was lousy and that,s what led to the accident. Remember well March 27,1977, as an 11 yr old and having the Brothers at our Catholic boarding school come in and say to say a prayer for almost 600 people that had been killed in what is the worst aviation disaster in history. 2 747,s on the ground. From all the reports that are coming in a Dutch pilot took off without permission in heavy fog. Final report that came out in fall 1978 from Spanish aviation authorities and chief investigator. I cannot believe what was in the head of that Dutch pilot. To take off without ATC clearance in heavy fog. He broke all the rules of cockpit procedure. He had been flying since 1951. Kapitan Jacob Van Zanten was rude, impatient, was obviously flying under heavy stress. Loaded up the tanks with jet fuel. Did not allow the Pan Am behind him to take off before him. Was more worried about Stupid K.L.M. regulations regarding overtime and money. How much did it cost for all the death and destruction? Even Japanese Kamikaze pilots did not take off without permission and they were on suicide missions. I have been an aviation fanatic for over 40 yrs.
@@hayabusa-iii9282 'The Dutch captain did not allow the PanAm behind him to take off before him'. According to me it was not 'to allow' rather than it simply was impossible because of the refuelling. The Dutch captain was unable to move the plane during refuelling... Otherwise he would have let the PanAm passing. At least I guess he would have done that. It is true that captain van Zanten took off without proper clearance from the Control Tower. Dutch people have the reputation of being rude, according to many non-Dutchies. But mostly it looks like rude as we Dutchies are very direct in our conversation.
If you read up on this incident rather than taking all of your info from a random TH-cam video, you'd know that it was much more complicated than that. It wasn't just a problem with a person, it was a problem with systems and fragmented decisionmaking across relevant institutions. Seriously, if you're interested, the actual story portrays a perfect storm of factors that came into play on that terrible day.
@@amelieholbrook3001 Perhaps, but having worked in risk management for many years I've taken a great interest in this tragic accident and have researched it in detail. @diego palos is correct in saying the accident was caused by an arrogant captain. In consideration of all those 'perfect storm' factors you suggest, the KLM captain should have been ever more vigilant in trying to mitigate those factors and it's evident from the investigations he didn't. Heck, even when the KLM's flight engineer warns the captain of the message from Pan Am at the initial take-off roll, he dismisses it (arrogance). If he had of powered-down right then, the accident would not have occurred. Further, the investigation suggests the KLM pilot was somewhat in a rush and ordered a re-fueling of the aircraft to avoid another stop-over due to flight hours. So it would seem, those 'perfect storm' factors were really those going on in the head of the KLM captain which clouded his better judgement (and I say 'better judgement' because he was an experienced pilot and Snr captain of KLM).
@@thepsychologist8159 Is arrogance the correct word though? because it does not strike me as arrogance, more careless and leap before looking. I am sure he also does not want to die. Its careless, stupid and not performing his job safely but i don't know, arrogant does not feel the right word
van Zanten is 100% responsible for ALL of the deaths. He will forever be remembered as the worst pilot in aviation history. He has NO equal. A disgrace to the profession.
The greatest tribute we can pay to all those affected that day, not just the passengers that died, but their families also, is that we've learnt from this tragedy. By implenting procedures like CRM we do our level best to make sure this sort of disaster never happens again.
And to people who think about risks (but are often shunned as nay-sayers and pessimists). Corporate greed is the reason why some safety measures are only applied after something happens even though a system existed already
The captain of the KLM was under pressure to leave the airport to avoid being stranded at the airport. The captain did not wanted to get in trouble with the management of KLM if the airline ended up paying for the overnight stay of the crews and passengers because the captain couldn’t leave the airport, this played a key role in KLM captain’s decision to leave the airport at any cost.
There were a LOT of factors in the KLM pilot becoming so focused on departing over everything else. It probably didn’t help that he was ‘always right’ for so long, since he was KLM’s #1 pilot… listening to the radios, it also sounds like the Tenerife ATC was overwhelmed and should have taken things slowly instead of trying to expedite when the workload got WAY above what they probably ever did there.
van Zanten was the head pilot and posterboy for KLM. If he was late they really would not care so much as apposed to losing a plane full of passengers and facing lawsuits over it.
@@Wildstar40 That is obviously not the case. van Zanten ignored any sense of "chill because it's a unfortunate circumstance" and was trying to will his way to perfection. And he paid the price with 100's of lives. I'm sure KLM wouldn't have cared now since they obviously see what happens when you cut corners. Unfortunately though it took a case like this to force airlines to look more at the safety factors then just the bottom line.
I’ve read so many aircraft accidents… i’ve found one thing common… every time there’s one person who decided to ignore a threat call(an order) just due to lack of patience…! Lots of lives due to someone’s ignorance
Time means money... If they were to delay, they'd lose money. In our dystopic hypercapitalistic world, that would be enough to get the pilots fired. Poor man just wants to keep his job so he doesn't starve.
Something not spoken about is often the pilots, especially back in the day, were under a lot of pressure to make good time and arrive on time. It was a big thing and they would get in trouble for delays, often even if the delays werent theyre fault. Airlines used to and still do lose a lot of money for being delayed. It may not be an excuse for disregarding orders or ignoring a second opinion but its worth noting. In this case the KLM pilot was already significantly behind due to the rerouting and decision to refuel. If I remember correctly, they had another flight that day and if they didnt take off as soon as possible due to pilot rest management procedures back in the day, they wouldnt have been able to fly their second flight (I forget where the flight was to or how many hours they had already logged in order to have that cap met) I just remember from Mayday documentary on Discovery channel that the captain was under pressure to take of ASAP. Again not an excuse at all but a little bit more udnerstanding why he was in a rush and also does beg the question airlines had in pressuring their staff to meet time quotas.
I live in the Canary Islands and this event is still very spoken about by our parents and elders... A terrible disaster that hopefully never happens ever again anywhere, a very dark lesson to be written in our minds for the rest of our existence.
I had no idea that this accident ever took place untill it was shown in my recommendations. I feel so bad that this have happened. The ignorance of the Dutch captain is painfull to hear. His disregard of such a the advise of his second in command has led this to happen.
The KLM pilot was almost entirely at fault. The KLM was supposed to refuel in Gran Canaria, protocol at final destination, before heading back to Holland (more fuel meant a heavier plane and more combustion). But the pilot decided to 'save time' and even let off passengers at Los Rodeos terminal, in complete disregard to the Pan Am passengers and crew, who were waiting behind and ready to leave ASAP. Every other factor: it was a Sunday so only one air traffic controller was on duty; the terrible weather; and the single runway, only made it worse.
Yeah wtf, taking off in the fog whilst you don't know if it is clear. Still the guy at the airport tower should have been more clear, saying that there is still somebody on the track instead of ready for take off.
@@hannesp3493 the sad truth is that us humans only truly learn from tragic lessons and they had to be an example on how things should be done. it's just the way it is. but i do get it, even though that pilot is dead he still infuriates me with that stupidity.
Just want to add that the interference was becuase the air control and Pan Am crew was trying to alert the KLM crew at the same time. The results was just a clatter in the KLM crews headphones.
The radio technology in aviation is comparable to walkie talkies. Everyone within the same airspace has to be switched to the same frequency in order to make sure that everyone can hear each other. In other words, everyone has to wait thier turn before they are allowed to talk. If more than one person is talking, than thats where the interfernce comes from. Pretty sure this radio technology is still used today.
@@windsofmarchjourneyperrytr2823 tell that to the realitives that lost loved ones on both planes and see their reactions, you might be the last casualty of a 44 year old plane crash
I'm extremely flattered by the way you explained things and the animations were cool as well. I've tried so many videos but this was the best. your way of simplyflying things made it possible. Longing to see more content like this. Loved the video. Kudos to you man! I'm your new subscriber!
It's just his way of telling you he loves you. Sincere praise is all too rare in this world. Personally, if I had the skill, I would make and upload a gripping stage by stage description of the worst train crash in history. It's the best way to make people feel good about themselves.
I was 6 years old when this happened. I remember seeing it on the news. For the longest time, people were terrified to get on planes because this accident was so horrendous. Add to that, throughout the 80s, plane crashes were common as hell!
The week before, my 2 aunts took me and my brother to see a movie called 'Airport '77'. Where a 747 is hijacked and crashes into the Atlantic ocean. Between the movie and seeing photos and news reports of this awful disaster, I wasn't sure that i ever wanted to get on a jetliner.
My grandad was working at the airport at the time. I live less than 400 meters away from the runway where it happened, I often hear stories from that day and how the explosions where so loud you could hear them in the whole town. Right now I can see the whole runway as I look through the window. Truly a disaster.
I heard that as soon as some KLM directives heard about the disastrous accident, they tried contacting Captain V. Zanten to go to the scene breaking down the accident without knowing that he was in fact the pilot involved.
Sorry but this is just fucking SAD, i got goosebumps watching this, how tragic it is because of one man's arrogance. 500+ life that could've made such an impact in the world all gone, 50 years ago but I pray for the souls of the perished.
A long chain of events led to this catastrophe. The airport, inadequate technology, weather and a surfeit of traffic which the system could not cope with. That said the main cause was Zanten and failure to cross check after being warned by the F/O. Those days a captain especially of a 747 was looked at with awe and his words were always final. This hierarchical culture has changed dramatically over the years but surprisingly in Asian and African countries this culture continues to this day and has been the main reason behind some crashes.
Although CRM is recognised globally it is still often ignored in some cultures, a couple of Indian plane crashes post-1980 have been blamed on flight crew members being unwilling to correct their captain.
There have been many crashes even in the 2000s and beyond that resulted from poor CRM, among other factors. Check out Mentour Pilot's channel and recent aviation accident and incident investigation series. He's the best aviation channel I've come across on TH-cam and he loves to talk about CRM.
CRM is highly effective, and its derivatives are today widely used in many other fields and professions in the West. However, it is very apparent that Eastern cultures do not embrace the underlying concept of teamwork at all well, and their societies are still very much dominated by status, class and rank. Many aircraft have crashed as a result, including the Korean Air Cargo 747 Freighter (Flight 8509) which was lost soon after takeoff from London Stansted in 1999.
@@terrythekittieful Foreign commercial airlines are sometimes banned from operating in some areas of the world, for example, all airlines based in Indonesia were banned from the EU in 2007 because of their poor safety record. This ban has since been rescinded, but many business travellers and pilots decline to fly from to or through Indonesian airspace. Your remark about allowing aircraft to suffer mishaps is ill-judged.
Im a fresh graduate pilot with 200hrs experience. I know this disaster, as being very well-knowm in aviation history. But, now i know the story behind "ready for departure" and "cleared for take-off" phrases.
The words "Clear" and "Cleared" are also now completely forbidden at all airports in communications between the ATC Tower and aircraft (and also to all ground-operating vehicles). Any ground-operating vehicle wishing to cross a live runway must ask permission to do so from the Tower. If permission is not granted the vehicle is instructed to "Hold" and an acknowledgement of that "Hold" command must be passed back to the Tower. When permission is finally granted to cross the live runway, the Tower will instruct the driver of the vehicle to cross and then "Call Vacated" on passing the vacation point. Again an immediate acknowledgement is returned to the Tower before and after crossing the runway: "Crossing runway 27 at Echo One, will call vacated" and "Vacated runway 27 at Echo Two" (or whichever vacation point is crossed). Under no circumstances will the words "Clear" or "Cleared" be accepted.
@@daliamcmahon5884 i mean, Pilots and Tower are not allowed to use the word "takeoff" in any phrases. The word is used only if: 1. The Tower is giving takeoff clearence to a pilot. 2. The Pilot is acknowledging tower that he received Takeoff clearence. Otherwise, for every other situations, the word "departure" will be used in all phrases.
I live very close to this airport! My mom who grew up on this island says they found body parts all around the forest around the area for months, and she was always scared to find one. Truly a tragedy.
Not only that, he requested the plane to be refueled to maximum allowed, which was completely unnecessary, ended up killing everyone on his own aircraft
@@bluetics9496 : No, filling up with fuel was not unreasonable. If he hadn't, he would've had to do it later anyway, to make it back to the Netherlands, so it saved time. (It's not like the pilot knew he was going to have to leap off the runway prematurely to avoid crashing into another plane.) The cause of the crash was the captain's impatience and arrogance. (Along with bad weather and a couple of very unfortunate radio glitches at the worst possible time.)
Not eager to get home, He was eager to get everyone go to Gran Canaria and back to Amsterdam with little delays as possible. If he goes over his delay quota, he will lose his license and force the airline to pay money for the stayover at Los Rodeos or Gran Canaria.
A very well made video about a truly tragic event. It's unfortunate that in such dynamic and professional industries, it usually takes a horrible mistake to make adequate changes. Subbed.
Great video explaining the events of that day. Trained under a trauma surgeon who was one of the first responders at the scene. What also led from this accident was how to treat initial burn injuries and subsequent treatments. Unfortunate incident that led to improvements in air travel and medical treatment.
I cannot imagine having been on a very long flight, with a stop, half way around the world, almost at your destination, having waited for hours in the fog, on the ground, and getting struck by an incredibly irresponsible pilot.
...Tbh: TH-cam has Issues... if you wanna know a way to help, tell me. I claim to know one. Daring claim? Maybe. But i still say so and ask you to ask me about it. I fought Racism, Sexism, P0rn, Scammer, Spam-Bots and P-Spam-Bots before - and you can do this too. So my claim.
This is horrific , I love to travel but im almost crippled with the fear of flying , i know its safe , but there is always more safety that could be handled , i wish it was in place this day so that both flights landed safe at the original destination and everyone was still with us today
@@noeminoemi1350 i've always had this thought that when you had to endure this kind of near death experience and you survived, it's very unlikely you would face the same scenario twice. It's like your death won't be in an airplane crash. You can still be involved in any other accident, just not the same one you had.
@@davidalexander7742 oh I know . And statistics are ill die on way to airport over being in aircraft. But my mind goes into overdrive lately. Years ago I was fine . I think it was a few rough flights that kicked off the fear and it just escalated... alcohol helps me alot ... but I don't think I can be drunk on a 14 hour flight to Thailand 🤣🤣🤣
@@GrandWalkingTours maybe it would help if you try to learn a bit about the operations on the flight deck. There are several videos of pilots simulating emergency procedures or Pilots Eye videos of real flights. If you know about the technical parts of an aircraft and what they do in which situation you'll sit in the plane and be sure that everything is fine as you know what is going on. Mid flight there is almost nothing that can happen that would cause the plane to crash. A plane doesn't just brake apart for no reason. Even if for whatever reason all engines would stop running mid flight the planes are designed to glide for about 200 km or more than 100 miles. The exact distance depends on the type of aircraft but it should be enough to safely land at an airport near by. It is also very unusual to have all engines stop working mid flight. They would have to run out of fuel or fly through the ash of a volcano. During takeoffs or landings it is a different story with the possibility of bird strikes but the pilots are trained for these situations. I dabbled with flight simulators and airplanes for years before flying for the first time and I was never scared of it but rather looking forward to it. I simulated the route that we would fly several times before we went on the flight and already knew what exciting views we would get on the approach. My mum was a bit scared of flying and the approach was a bit bumpy so she said she doesn't want to fly again. I knew exactly what was happening and had 100% trust into the aircraft and the pilots. The second time I went on a flight I already went alone (without parents) and had no problem at all. Fear is usually caused by something unknown.
The investigators suggested the reason for this was a desire to leave as soon as possible in order to comply with KLM's duty-time regulations and before the weather deteriorated further. Going over his duty-time quota will lose his license
@@dgwdgw he didn't think his life was at risk. He didn't think things through, because he was basically like a rockstar in the world of aviation, and he though he knew better.
@@JustRememberWhoYoureWorkingFor thats so stupid why its the Pilot fault if Gran canaria refusing him to land because of a terrorist, and why its the Pilot fault that he cannot be in time just because of that, the company should be sued not the Pilot. Idk why everyone is so picky about the Pilot if that really was the case he would lose his Liciense. And seriously does the fk matter wich CH Pan am takes they could have been way off sooner from the runaway, there was nowhere any plane in sight that other taxyway or whatever it is.
As cynical as it sounds to admit, without this crash, there’s lots of modern airline systems that likely wouldn’t be in place that prevent this sort of thing from happening again
and it also lead slot ofnthe worlds major airports updating and their ground systems, making it mandatory for said airports to have a fully functioning ground system
My neighbors parents, aunt, uncle, & friends, one being the ex City Manager of San Jose "Dutch" Hamman, & his wife all perished in what still remains the worst airlines accident in aviation history. I remember watching tv when they broke in the program for a News Bulletin regarding this horrific accident. Little did I know then that the parents of my neighbors across the street were on that doomed flight. So sad! 😢
I am a survivor and lived in Palo Alto at the time. I have a newspaper clipping from the San Jose Mercury News that features a photo of "Dutch" Hamman.They were travelling with the couple who owned the fruit company "Driscolls" near Sant Cruz and they all died.
@@kd84afc Regardless of the other circumstances, the entire mishap occurred because he didn't not get proper clearance for take-off from the tower and demanded he and his copilot go full thrust. Hence the entire reason for Crew Resource Management and Departure being used now. If all he had done was await proper clearance, KNOWING the situation for what it was and the lack of visibility, no one would have died. Including himself.
@@this_mfr entire accident occurred due to a number of factors that all played their part in this accident happening. Fog, delay in refueling that allowed the fog to settle, sending the pan am flight down the runway towards the other plane in heavy fog and ordered to do left turn that was later found impossible to do for a 747, garbled communications which led to misleading communications of them thinking they could take off. The KLM captain was very wrong, yes, but he wasn't the only one. putting the entire blame on one man is unfair.
Years later, the Pan-Am FO Robert Bragg was interviewed for a documentary at the airport in Tenerife. He looked on the grass and in moments found parts of his aircraft.
What?! Apparently the team members in charge of collecting and preserving evidence were also incompetent. The mind boggles. There have been a lot of programs on the Tererife disaster -- do you happen to recall the name of this particular documentary?
@@jennytice8849 Found it....20 years later was his first time back at Tenerife. I believe he passed away in 2017. Here's the TH-cam link to the video : th-cam.com/video/YlRO4cuWqDQ/w-d-xo.html
I am a Maritime professional and I did a course called Maritime Resource Management where the course structure was based on this particular incident. The root cause was miscommunication and misuse of authority.
I remember this accident happening. I was growing up in Orange County, CA. One of my dad’s best friends died In the Pan Am plane. I remember how stunned we were when we heard the news.
It's still more dangerous than what you're told, if you calculate it per travel which is the only legitimate way to do it then Flying is indeed more dangerous than driving, yes even commercial.
I was looking through youtube for aviation stories to watch with my father and the thumbnail for these two aircraft colliding came up. Never have I seen someone's face die so quickly... The horror of this incident...
The KLM captain was a senior instructor for the airline and was not used to communicating with ATC on a regular basis. His seniority may have also made it difficult for the flight crew to raise objections on the flight deck
min. 3:36 Only "OK" was heared inside the cabin, due to interferences. That word should be forbiden at airports as it is ambiguous and can lead to a missunderstanding if out of context. According to Professor Elizabeth Matthews, errors caused by language in aeronautical communications have been "a more frequent and influential factor than has been commonly noted." For Matthews, who has been a consultant for the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), "linguistic problems in aviation are not investigated with the same degree of systematic and expert rigor with which other human and operational factors are considered."
"OK" is now forbidden over ATC communications. They really didn't go over the full breadth of the reforms caused by Tenerife. Language used in controlled airspace is now extremely specific. Exact phrases are required and all that. Of course, lax ATC/pilots do still in practice break them. But the general system is far more rigid than the details of what the video detailed. I mean, for one, everyone who is an Air Traffic Controller or a pilot in any country must be an english speaker, second language or otherwise.
@@jinx6777 So as it is said, every crash heads to a revision of regulations and requirement, so in the end makes flying safer. God bless all the lifes it takes so. Thanks for the answer Amber, I didnt know that.
I'm Dutch. My ex-fiance's mother lost three familymembers in the Tenerife air disaster. She has never flown again. In about ten days, I'll leave for Tenerife. I'm no longer together with that man, but I'll go to the remembrance site, lay down some flowers and I'll send him a picture of that. So it'll never be forgotten.
Runways are used for take off and landing. Where there are multiple runways they are chosen based on wind. Never seen a runway dedicated just to taking off or landing.
@@ghostpuppet31 Stick to hoverboards, mate. Get to your departure gate early enough and you'll see the aircraft arrive, passengers disembark, then (after a short cleaning break) the gate crew will start boarding the next flight's passengers. Same gate, same aircraft that never moves.
Important to nOte is that the klm pilot has been in the plane for 17 hours or something and that u cant be in the plane for longer than 18 hours or something otherwise ur licence gets taken thats why he wanted to go so fast that rule was later dismissed because of this accident
Doesn't make any sense since the flight would be longer than one hour anyway. No van Zanten was the poster pilot of KLM back then and an arrogant sack of shit.
@lander8423 realizing the klm captain was a safety officer; flight instructor. Ironically he had not done a physical flight in many months. Only training other pilots in a simulator situation.
Excellent video, but you have glossed over one detail. You mention radio interference a few times, but never the cause. This happened because two people were trying to send a message at the same time on the same frequency. The messages interfered with each other and as a result neither were received.
Read a book on how someone so experienced could make such a fatal mistake. Normally someone doesn't just ignore instructions especially when visibility is low, but there were so many factors that made captain v zalen eager to take off: his mandatory resting period was coming soon, which meant he had to handover the flight control, the people would have had to be accommodated in hotels had they waited more, which meant expenses for the company, and plus he was tired and overwhelmed by everything. This is not to excuse him, but the whole point of the book was to show we can all make rash decisions given enough stress factors
I didn’t know that they sent a C-130 two days later! That’s nuts but totally understandable- I’m sure Tenerife didn’t have the capacity for mass casualties like that..
Actually, there is technically one surviving passenger of that klm flight, the story is, a women , robina van lanschot, was with her two friends on the flight, but bc of the airport change, she decided not go on the flight bc she lived on the island, and didn’t think it needed to go back and forth ,she wasn’t aloud to leave at first but she did it anyway, she watched her two friends leave, and never returning
She wasn't on it when the incident occurred, so she wont be considered a survivor. However, she was a survivor of the flight which took off in Amsterdam and landed in Tenerife that day.
she didn’t get on the plane bc her boyfriend was living on the island and instead of waiting she asked the airport if she could leave. she was granted to do so, and headed home with her boyfriend
The first and only time I rode a plane was in 2004. I discovered this 10 years later, known as "The Crash Of The Century" and the fact that over 500 people died... still makes me never want to ride a plane ever again.
On hearing about the disaster KLM called all their experts together to join the investigation team. The name at the top of the list of senior pilots to lead the team... Van Zanten.
I think you missed an important aspect/result of this disaster. You did point out that some key communications were not heard because of “interference”, but there’s more to that than simple interference. I watched a documentary on this incident, which pointed out that during the investigation, it was determined that those missed communications were caused by both planes trying to transmit at the same time. The communications equipment in use at the time could only receive input from one source (presumably the strongest) at a time. The result of that discovery was that the communication equipment approved for use by air traffic controllers had to be able to receive from multiple sources simultaneously.
I didn't think this way until I learned more about tragedies like this. I thank every sacrifice made to make me safe when I board commercial flights. So many people have died to have safety protocols in place. Mistakes may still happen but this is 1,000% a testament as to why CRM is needed. I don't wish ill for the dead but that Captain constantly throwing his rank really does piss me off.
@jstarASMR3103 for that era the 747 were indeed beautifully designed. Unfortunately this airport was ill equipped to handle not one but two aircraft of this size. They during the day were trying to expedite the smaller craft that were already there prior these aircraft arrived. The weather indeed was a factor; many if's as well. Such an unfortunate incident with many lives lost.
So many of us miss many things of the 70‘s ( and 80‘s), the music, the spirit, the joie de vivre… Well, about transportation safety, and mentality, I am glad we are somewhere else.
I'm from Tenerife, here is a gross fact: Many people reported the smell of burning and rotting flesh for DAYS in zones near the airport, also, some pieces of it also went to houses near it too...
Thank you for your presentation. This is an example of when you don't follow the rules and feel that you have more legitimacy than everyone else you can cause great harm. Sadly it takes an accident like this to bring about changes to provide more safety.
What height of incompetency! Control Tower: Weather's bad but let's let a taxiing and taking off aircraft use the same runway KLM: Hey we're taking off without clearance Control Tower: I can't hear youuuu PanAm: Hey we're still on the runway Control Tower: I can't hear you eitherrrrr Lalala *Two large Aircrafts crash on the runway right there* Control Tower: What was that again?
![[Full Episode] The Restaurant War Thailand ศึกพ่อค้าซ่าแม่ค้าแซ่บ Episode 2 | 29 ก.ย. 67](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/r3lfLNH6Ke4/mqdefault.jpg)
My mom, Encarnación Pons, a commercial airline pilot for 23 years, was the air hostess who had to work during this flight. Before becoming a pilot, she worked as an air hostess for 10 years, and she was stationed in Tenerife. She received a call that day asking to please come and board because she was an English speaker, and the other air hostess who spoke English was ill and asked to stay at home. When she was at the airport, the other girl said she was feeling better and asked to work for that day instead. While my mom was driving her Mini Cooper back to her house, she witnessed the plane crashing into pieces. I always feel how close I was to not exist. I would not be here today writing this if my mom had worked that day almost 50 years ago.
Wow!
I got shivers reading this 🥵🥶
Wow! Since chills up your spine. It’s sad that the other lady had to die. But I’m glad that your mother lived and that you’re here!!! 😊 Isn’t that funny to think about, Erie funny!
Holy cow!
its 1997. 26 years actually
ironic how the worst aviation accident happened on ground
Well, most of the accidents, as far as I know, occur during take-offs and landings.
@@nicky2204 actually there are a few cases of mid air collisions, and depending on how you define accident, mid air equipment or structural failures.
Until a fully loaded A380 crashes...it will happen, it's when....not if.
@@23hublock1
Nobody knows. Not all models of airplanes have suffered accidents.
Take off and landing are the most risky part of a flight.
KLM captain ignores all departure protocols and his flight engineer's advice in thick fog, what could possibly go wrong!
The Pam Am building in NYC was near trump plaza and the WTC, so it's all Trump's fault
@@edsnotgod you got to be joking
@@barterchimera1abrams229 there's no other sane and rational "explaination"
@@edsnotgod Trump plaza wasn’t built until 1982 you need to do some research on your history bud before you open your mouth
V Zanten fault
Ah the 70's, what a time to fly. Captains who ignored commands, airports without land radar equipment, unprepared emergency response teams, ah yes.
Wondering who was on that flight?
Everything has a constructive curve. Imagine the eye surgeries back in the 1800s. We always stand on the shoulders of those who suffered in the past. More so with the aviation industry.
The good old days, good times for 'almost' everyone.
How boring today, where you get in lots of trouble for simple stuff.
And everyone smoked and got drunk
I feel bad for these people they died from miscommunication and impatience you guys don’t have to like this comment just give those passengers and workers who died respect
And incompetence
And mostly poor visibility
@@alioumaiga6116 Not mostly, modern plane flight training focuses on being able to fly by instrumentation and traffic control instruction, that's why they can fly in pitch black at night, if the communication was done properly and the plane hadn't tried to take off before they 100% knew they had clearance this would never had happened. Similar communication mishaps have caused similar crashes in perfect visibility.
@@G1NZOU Actually, Visibility is also a thing, If the visibility is good, then the KLM Pilots will see the other plane.
@@apolakigamingandmore6376 I never denied visibility wasn't a thing, but modern flying techniques and air traffic control is supposed to be followed so just visibility isn't relied on.
Since the visibility was bad, the crew should have been extra diligent about knowing exactly what they're supposed to be doing according to direction from the tower, and be 100% sure that the runway is clear.
It’s scary to realize my grandmother and grandfather would be on the KLM flight but just that morning they got a call with the question if they wanted to take a plane later because it was overbooked. They accepted it and took a flight later. And when this accident was on the news my mom and her siblings thought there parents where dead. Can’t believe how happy they where when they heard their parents took a flight later. They’ve been so so so lucky.
🧢🧢🧢🧢🧢🧢🧢🧢🧢🧢🧢
top 10 things that didn’t happen
The people above this reply have trust issues
@@Zylix08 correct, but i dont trust you
No such thing as "luck". Everything happens for a reason.
Technically all plane crashes change aviation history, that’s how crashes became so infrequent.
Totally agree, Crashes are 95 percent human error.
@@robertfeeley9738 technically it’s 100% human error, because humans also designed the systems and airframes, so every crash that has caused is also originally human error
@@marianandnorbert That's not how human error is defined
@@marianandnorbert Human error as in the here and now. This means the humans which have to work with the systems and protocols they have been given and obeying them.
@@marianandnorbert Some were caused by material fatigue, which is not caused by humans. Every material suffers from this
NEVER underestimate the power of miscommunication.
Great 16 - Miscommunication hell. There was no "miscommunication" at all. The plane NEVER had clearance to take off. The KLM pilot was an arrogant bastard who decided he could disregard rules.
@@Woozler554 yeah
Exactly this reminds from the plane crash in Breaking Bad.
That causes a lot of issues, almost anywhere
@@aspiringcaptain But as I stated above, there was no "miscommunication" at all. That plane NEVER had clearance to take off. It was entirely the fault of the arrogant KLM pilot.
It's so frustrating seeing such levels of human stupidity
To be fair, the early and “primitive” protocol for communication is also to blame. As explained at the end. Clear for takeoff, standby for takeoff, ready to takeoff, can sound very similar on a radio especially in that time, which can easily lead to misunderstandings in communication.
This is why a set, strict standard for communication is so important.
Geezuz are you not used to it by now? Every time I leave the house I seem to run into someone dumber than the one from the previous day.
@@CelestisForgeUK There was NO "misunderstanding" in communication!!!! The pilot proceeded to take off before be got final clearance. That was IT!!! PERIOD!!!!
@@Woozler554 dude, do some human factors training, it's never just one thing. Period.
@@TheTonyspoons
DUDE, do some logic training. It's never just one thing? Funny, the system worked for 100s of thousands of other pilots and flights at the time. This SOB decides to ignore this one thing and 583 people get killed.
There was no "comedy of errors" here, DUDE. If this arrogant SOB had followed the rules, the accident NEVER would have happened. PERIOD.
It's still unfathomable how the KLM captain was so situationally unaware. With all of the adverse conditions present, he literally threw caution in the air and caused over 500 deaths!
It was because he was used to training new KLM pilots in the pilot training simulator, which doesn't require ATC Clearance or real world consequences when something goes wrong like a crash.
@@carlmaster9690 but it's also because of Dutch law that put the captain under pressure.
He had a reputation for being a " press on " ..impatient type...!!!!
This is the best video I have seen about this crash.
Not really. I think it was Air Crash Investigations that delved into it a lot more deeply. That was a good 45-50 minutes devoted to the tragedy. I would recommend that. This video is okay but it's just skimming the surface. The KLM pilot was a bit of authoritarian figure, he was in a mad rush to get off the ground. That was the final box tick to a terrible tragedy.
@@terrythekittieful shut up and go
@@terrythekittieful there's also a great short documentary made by the Spanish public television which includes interviews with the controller and some members of the Pan-Am crew, and also the real radio communications with both planes but unfortunately it's only available in Spanish, however the auto-generated subs make a decent job: th-cam.com/video/0gzMq9UCFFs/w-d-xo.html
@@aqpatt4675 Thanks for that my friend.
@@Nnvjdj a little sour are we?
Weather was so bad the rescue crew couldn’t even tell a second plane was burning, but apparently that didn’t keep KLM from trying to take off?
They waited for hours, & the pilot was out of his work time already so his patience ran out.
@@FunTimeGhz But they get paid hourly and with a salary, i do not remember when the hourly part starts tho so yeah maybe
I think there was a miscommunication and due to weather, the message couldn't be recieved
Instrument certifications allow you to do things like that. Fog and restricted visibility only require that you have reliable instruments.
Runways are a constant. Visibility doesn't alter the runway direction or length.
If you get the right indicators, you can take off in a plane with zero visibility.
They should have closed the airport once the dense fog rolled all over the place.
But nobody wanted to take that decision.
I was a kid in elementary school at the time and when I heard about the disaster, I drew a picture of two jumbo jets colliding.
The only elements that I understood about the whole taxiing thing was that one the jets was in between taxiway and runway.
So the only logical conclusion I drew was that that plane was coming off the taxiway onto the runway.
Because never could I have understood at that age, that they had to use the runway as taxiway.
It's easy to blame the Dutch Captain but do you really think he didn't care about killing himself and hundreds of passengers?
If one man breaks the rules in the system and the entire system collapses, it means the system wasn't safe to begin with.
Also, there were only two (2) controllers at the airport because there was an important football match on television.
In other countries, they would have called in all available hands because with all the international flights diverted to this small, regional airport, it was an emergency situation to begin with.
K.L.M. regulations and the impatience of the Dutch Pilot killed 583 people. Even the WW-2 Japanese Kamikaze pilots did not take off without permission and they were on suicide missions. Could not wait 3-5 minutes.
It was a miscommunication unfortunately together with a impatient pilot due to Dutch regulations
The captain had also prior to the crash been flying a lot of time in a simulator, teaching becoming pilots how to fly an airplane. But in a simulator you are your own controller, and after doing lot and lots of take-offs in the simulator he thought at Tineriff that he already was given take-off clearance, partially because ha had been flying so much in the simulator.
@@antonberglund117
I think this was one of the reasons why it went terribly wrong.
As an 747-instructor captain Jacob Veldhuizen van Zanten flew a lot in the Flight Simulator.
But I also think that the fact that the captain had to take off within a certain time due to the fact that the cockpit crew had to stop working would result in paying the costs for hotels etc. by KLM.
Studying a combination of facts can lead to a interesting view on this subject, because I refuse to believe that captain Jacob Veldhuizen van Zanten is fully responsible for all of this.
In other words, if the airport had ground radar, if the PANAM-747 had left the runway on time, if the weather conditions were good with no fog, etc.
+@ORGO Strange how Dutch said Spanish air traffic controllers English was lousy and that,s what led to the accident. Remember well March 27,1977, as an 11 yr old and having the Brothers at our Catholic boarding school come in and say to say a prayer for almost 600 people that had been killed in what is the worst aviation disaster in history. 2 747,s on the ground. From all the reports that are coming in a Dutch pilot took off without permission in heavy fog. Final report that came out in fall 1978 from Spanish aviation authorities and chief investigator. I cannot believe what was in the head of that Dutch pilot. To take off without ATC clearance in heavy fog. He broke all the rules of cockpit procedure. He had been flying since 1951. Kapitan Jacob Van Zanten was rude, impatient, was obviously flying under heavy stress. Loaded up the tanks with jet fuel. Did not allow the Pan Am behind him to take off before him. Was more worried about Stupid K.L.M. regulations regarding overtime and money. How much did it cost for all the death and destruction? Even Japanese Kamikaze pilots did not take off without permission and they were on suicide missions. I have been an aviation fanatic for over 40 yrs.
@@hayabusa-iii9282 'The Dutch captain did not allow the PanAm behind him to take off before him'. According to me it was not 'to allow' rather than it simply was impossible because of the refuelling. The Dutch captain was unable to move the plane during refuelling... Otherwise he would have let the PanAm passing. At least I guess he would have done that. It is true that captain van Zanten took off without proper clearance from the Control Tower. Dutch people have the reputation of being rude, according to many non-Dutchies. But mostly it looks like rude as we Dutchies are very direct in our conversation.
So basically it was caused due to an arrogant captain who didn't care about taking precautions...... didn't care he was responsible for many lives.
If you read up on this incident rather than taking all of your info from a random TH-cam video, you'd know that it was much more complicated than that. It wasn't just a problem with a person, it was a problem with systems and fragmented decisionmaking across relevant institutions. Seriously, if you're interested, the actual story portrays a perfect storm of factors that came into play on that terrible day.
@@amelieholbrook3001 Perhaps, but having worked in risk management for many years I've taken a great interest in this tragic accident and have researched it in detail. @diego palos is correct in saying the accident was caused by an arrogant captain. In consideration of all those 'perfect storm' factors you suggest, the KLM captain should have been ever more vigilant in trying to mitigate those factors and it's evident from the investigations he didn't. Heck, even when the KLM's flight engineer warns the captain of the message from Pan Am at the initial take-off roll, he dismisses it (arrogance). If he had of powered-down right then, the accident would not have occurred.
Further, the investigation suggests the KLM pilot was somewhat in a rush and ordered a re-fueling of the aircraft to avoid another stop-over due to flight hours.
So it would seem, those 'perfect storm' factors were really those going on in the head of the KLM captain which clouded his better judgement (and I say 'better judgement' because he was an experienced pilot and Snr captain of KLM).
@@thepsychologist8159 Is arrogance the correct word though? because it does not strike me as arrogance, more careless and leap before looking. I am sure he also does not want to die. Its careless, stupid and not performing his job safely but i don't know, arrogant does not feel the right word
@@Auron710 be sure to let us know when you think you found the right word
van Zanten is 100% responsible for ALL of the deaths. He will forever be remembered as the worst pilot in aviation history. He has NO equal. A disgrace to the profession.
The greatest tribute we can pay to all those affected that day, not just the passengers that died, but their families also, is that we've learnt from this tragedy. By implenting procedures like CRM we do our level best to make sure this sort of disaster never happens again.
Every time you fly and land and get off safely you owe your life to people who died in accidents before you flew.
Ig so.
And to people who think about risks (but are often shunned as nay-sayers and pessimists). Corporate greed is the reason why some safety measures are only applied after something happens even though a system existed already
@@HANKSANDY69420 that was exactly my response
@@JoeJohnson-mk4qd lol
Eh
The captain of the KLM was under pressure to leave the airport to avoid being stranded at the airport. The captain did not wanted to get in trouble with the management of KLM if the airline ended up paying for the overnight stay of the crews and passengers because the captain couldn’t leave the airport, this played a key role in KLM captain’s decision to leave the airport at any cost.
There were a LOT of factors in the KLM pilot becoming so focused on departing over everything else. It probably didn’t help that he was ‘always right’ for so long, since he was KLM’s #1 pilot… listening to the radios, it also sounds like the Tenerife ATC was overwhelmed and should have taken things slowly instead of trying to expedite when the workload got WAY above what they probably ever did there.
Bay Bengal - Trading the lives of 583 people to save some hotel costs. Great decision.
van Zanten was the head pilot and posterboy for KLM. If he was late they really would not care so much as apposed to losing a plane full of passengers and facing lawsuits over it.
@@Wildstar40 That is obviously not the case. van Zanten ignored any sense of "chill because it's a unfortunate circumstance" and was trying to will his way to perfection. And he paid the price with 100's of lives. I'm sure KLM wouldn't have cared now since they obviously see what happens when you cut corners. Unfortunately though it took a case like this to force airlines to look more at the safety factors then just the bottom line.
He was one of KLMs most famous pilots. He was simply arrogant
Imagine being that flight engineer warning the captain on KLM. Has to be the biggest *I told you so* in history
Yes
He didn't have time to say,"I told you so!"
I’ve read so many aircraft accidents… i’ve found one thing common… every time there’s one person who decided to ignore a threat call(an order) just due to lack of patience…! Lots of lives due to someone’s ignorance
Time means money...
If they were to delay, they'd lose money.
In our dystopic hypercapitalistic world, that would be enough to get the pilots fired.
Poor man just wants to keep his job so he doesn't starve.
@@iceylore7767 right! “poor man” didn’t have to worry about starving after that flight💀
Something not spoken about is often the pilots, especially back in the day, were under a lot of pressure to make good time and arrive on time. It was a big thing and they would get in trouble for delays, often even if the delays werent theyre fault. Airlines used to and still do lose a lot of money for being delayed. It may not be an excuse for disregarding orders or ignoring a second opinion but its worth noting. In this case the KLM pilot was already significantly behind due to the rerouting and decision to refuel. If I remember correctly, they had another flight that day and if they didnt take off as soon as possible due to pilot rest management procedures back in the day, they wouldnt have been able to fly their second flight (I forget where the flight was to or how many hours they had already logged in order to have that cap met) I just remember from Mayday documentary on Discovery channel that the captain was under pressure to take of ASAP. Again not an excuse at all but a little bit more udnerstanding why he was in a rush and also does beg the question airlines had in pressuring their staff to meet time quotas.
The saying, "Patience is a virtue" is powerfully true and something that captain didn't have.
I like to say “Patience is epic” cuz idk but yes true
So in short: everything that could go wrong did go wrong. And SO many lives lost. 😞
What’s that called? It’s not Murphy’s Law issit? “If something bad *can* happen it will” or something like that
@@KillerKegsey1 that's the one :)
Terrorist attack - check
Heavy fog - check
Overcrowded airport - check
runway exit confusion - check
No land radar - check
Miscommunication - check
Impatient pilot - check
I will never forget this horrible accident in my hometown 3 children became in one instant orphans
Seriously it's so horrible
I live in the Canary Islands and this event is still very spoken about by our parents and elders... A terrible disaster that hopefully never happens ever again anywhere, a very dark lesson to be written in our minds for the rest of our existence.
What's life like in the Canary islands?
Bro I also live in the canary islands and no one talks about this. The first time I heared it was on air crash investigation
@@MatthewSchellenberg normal
@@mineland66 Nótese el énfasis en "parents and elders"
@@Malxer ok sorry
I had no idea that this accident ever took place untill it was shown in my recommendations. I feel so bad that this have happened. The ignorance of the Dutch captain is painfull to hear. His disregard of such a the advise of his second in command has led this to happen.
Yup, last time I fly with a Dutchman as captain
@@BoleDaPole thats an ignorant statement
@@BoleDaPole and with Dutch pilot girl as a first officer?
@@BoleDaPole how about a Dutchwoman?
I remember the crash very well but never understood the events leading up to it. Thank you for the very clear, detailed explanation.
An example of impatience and miscommunication that lead to innocent souls lost....
😊
@@Amr-by7yu 🤨
@Norfolk Boy the price of the ticket? klm shouldnt exist right now cause of this accident
@@jameskearsing9254 that’s the funny thing , they don’t exist anymore and neither does Pam am 😂
@@Luca-nu2zg no it doesn’t they went bankrupt a Couple years ago look it up
The KLM pilot was almost entirely at fault. The KLM was supposed to refuel in Gran Canaria, protocol at final destination, before heading back to Holland (more fuel meant a heavier plane and more combustion). But the pilot decided to 'save time' and even let off passengers at Los Rodeos terminal, in complete disregard to the Pan Am passengers and crew, who were waiting behind and ready to leave ASAP. Every other factor: it was a Sunday so only one air traffic controller was on duty; the terrible weather; and the single runway, only made it worse.
It annoys me so badly that 583 lives could have been saved had literally any one of the occurrences had not happened 😔
Yeah wtf, taking off in the fog whilst you don't know if it is clear. Still the guy at the airport tower should have been more clear, saying that there is still somebody on the track instead of ready for take off.
@@hannesp3493 the sad truth is that us humans only truly learn from tragic lessons and they had to be an example on how things should be done. it's just the way it is. but i do get it, even though that pilot is dead he still infuriates me with that stupidity.
@@bean4332 True. It's just unfortunate that those lives had to be lost in order for the lesson to be learned.
@@Sam😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆(҂⌣̀_⌣́)ಥ⌣ಥ
Great video! Thanks for your job...
Love to see you here❤
Just want to add that the interference was becuase the air control and Pan Am crew was trying to alert the KLM crew at the same time. The results was just a clatter in the KLM crews headphones.
The radio technology in aviation is comparable to walkie talkies.
Everyone within the same airspace has to be switched to the same frequency in order to make sure that everyone can hear each other.
In other words, everyone has to wait thier turn before they are allowed to talk. If more than one person is talking, than thats where the interfernce comes from.
Pretty sure this radio technology is still used today.
I'll never will forget this accident, i was about 11years old, and was afraid to fly for a lone time
Did you witnessed that
Wasnt there but the news crew filmed it, they showed the bodys on the ground and the survivors wandering around, scared me to death
A car is a million times more dangerous. A bicycle, even much more than that.
Walking is more dangerous than a plane, btw.
@@windsofmarchjourneyperrytr2823 tell that to the realitives that lost loved ones on both planes and see their reactions, you might be the last casualty of a 44 year old plane crash
I'm extremely flattered by the way you explained things and the animations were cool as well. I've tried so many videos but this was the best. your way of simplyflying things made it possible. Longing to see more content like this. Loved the video. Kudos to you man! I'm your new subscriber!
It's just his way of telling you he loves you.
Sincere praise is all too rare in this world.
Personally, if I had the skill, I would make and upload a gripping stage by stage description of the worst train crash in history.
It's the best way to make people feel good about themselves.
Flattered is a word to be used if he were showcasing your life experience or your work.
I appreciate that 😊
Love the animation, it gives a clear picture of the movements of the aircraft and what went wrong
When KLM heard about the crash they tried to contact van zanten as he was the senior captain without realising he was on the plane
You can look to the weather, traffic, facilities etc..but we all know what it boiled down to: KLM Captain's negligence. 7:55
This a a perfect example of Murphy's Law, everything that can go wrong, will go wrong
I was 6 years old when this happened. I remember seeing it on the news. For the longest time, people were terrified to get on planes because this accident was so horrendous. Add to that, throughout the 80s, plane crashes were common as hell!
who?
But it also means that modern airport control is good enough that it can't go as wrong as this because ist otherwise would
The week before, my 2 aunts took me and my brother to see a movie called 'Airport '77'. Where a 747 is hijacked and crashes into the Atlantic ocean. Between the movie and seeing photos and news reports of this awful disaster, I wasn't sure that i ever wanted to get on a jetliner.
My grandad was working at the airport at the time. I live less than 400 meters away from the runway where it happened, I often hear stories from that day and how the explosions where so loud you could hear them in the whole town. Right now I can see the whole runway as I look through the window. Truly a disaster.
Prayers from nepal 🇳🇵 last month Atr crashed in nepal and caused death of all passengers and crew members
My Aunt lost her life in this deadly crash. She was one of Air Crew with Pan Am 1736.
I may have seen her during our flight from New York.
@@davidalexander7742 Congrats you have hawk eyes!
@@rebelstandwithukraine1095 Are you aware that you were responding to a survivor of the incident? 😅
I heard that as soon as some KLM directives heard about the disastrous accident, they tried contacting Captain V. Zanten to go to the scene breaking down the accident without knowing that he was in fact the pilot involved.
Sorry but this is just fucking SAD, i got goosebumps watching this, how tragic it is because of one man's arrogance.
500+ life that could've made such an impact in the world all gone, 50 years ago but I pray for the souls of the perished.
@@uc49842 Don't accept them,kill them.
One mans arrogance..? You’d wish..
@@uc49842 that's boring.
You explained that better than anything I’ve seen before. Thank you .
A long chain of events led to this catastrophe. The airport, inadequate technology, weather and a surfeit of traffic which the system could not cope with. That said the main cause was Zanten and failure to cross check after being warned by the F/O. Those days a captain especially of a 747 was looked at with awe and his words were always final. This hierarchical culture has changed dramatically over the years but surprisingly in Asian and African countries this culture continues to this day and has been the main reason behind some crashes.
Although CRM is recognised globally it is still often ignored in some cultures, a couple of Indian plane crashes post-1980 have been blamed on flight crew members being unwilling to correct their captain.
There have been many crashes even in the 2000s and beyond that resulted from poor CRM, among other factors. Check out Mentour Pilot's channel and recent aviation accident and incident investigation series. He's the best aviation channel I've come across on TH-cam and he loves to talk about CRM.
CRM is highly effective, and its derivatives are today widely used in many other fields and professions in the West. However, it is very apparent that Eastern cultures do not embrace the underlying concept of teamwork at all well, and their societies are still very much dominated by status, class and rank. Many aircraft have crashed as a result, including the Korean Air Cargo 747 Freighter (Flight 8509) which was lost soon after takeoff from London Stansted in 1999.
@@johnstedman4075 In that case, these airlines should be banned from international travel. Let them crash their planes in their own backyard.
@@terrythekittieful Foreign commercial airlines are sometimes banned from operating in some areas of the world, for example, all airlines based in Indonesia were banned from the EU in 2007 because of their poor safety record. This ban has since been rescinded, but many business travellers and pilots decline to fly from to or through Indonesian airspace. Your remark about allowing aircraft to suffer mishaps is ill-judged.
@@johnstedman4075 did not land on people it seems , en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Air_Cargo_Flight_8509
Captain Van Zanten took off without clearance, he was in patient and stressed, he gambled with all those peoples lives and his own and lost.
Impatient.
Im a fresh graduate pilot with 200hrs experience. I know this disaster, as being very well-knowm in aviation history.
But, now i know the story behind "ready for departure" and "cleared for take-off" phrases.
What do you mean?
The words "Clear" and "Cleared" are also now completely forbidden at all airports in communications between the ATC Tower and aircraft (and also to all ground-operating vehicles). Any ground-operating vehicle wishing to cross a live runway must ask permission to do so from the Tower. If permission is not granted the vehicle is instructed to "Hold" and an acknowledgement of that "Hold" command must be passed back to the Tower. When permission is finally granted to cross the live runway, the Tower will instruct the driver of the vehicle to cross and then "Call Vacated" on passing the vacation point. Again an immediate acknowledgement is returned to the Tower before and after crossing the runway: "Crossing runway 27 at Echo One, will call vacated" and "Vacated runway 27 at Echo Two" (or whichever vacation point is crossed). Under no circumstances will the words "Clear" or "Cleared" be accepted.
@@daliamcmahon5884 i mean,
Pilots and Tower are not allowed to use the word "takeoff" in any phrases. The word is used only if:
1. The Tower is giving takeoff clearence to a pilot.
2. The Pilot is acknowledging tower that he received Takeoff clearence.
Otherwise, for every other situations, the word "departure" will be used in all phrases.
Congratulations :) how was aviation school?
I live very close to this airport! My mom who grew up on this island says they found body parts all around the forest around the area for months, and she was always scared to find one. Truly a tragedy.
So sad!! How horrible 😞
Seems unlikely since all the debris from the planes was on the runway, nowhere near any forests.
@@ajs41 bruh half the comments here are made up shit, i feel like I'm on reddit
@@MoahGentle I had the very same thought just before I read your comment. Shit's ridiculous.
@@MoahGentlemakes sense 😂
it was the KLM pilot decision's fault. he did not listen to his crew and was very eager to get home.
Not only that, he requested the plane to be refueled to maximum allowed, which was completely unnecessary, ended up killing everyone on his own aircraft
@@bluetics9496 : No, filling up with fuel was not unreasonable. If he hadn't, he would've had to do it later anyway, to make it back to the Netherlands, so it saved time. (It's not like the pilot knew he was going to have to leap off the runway prematurely to avoid crashing into another plane.)
The cause of the crash was the captain's impatience and arrogance. (Along with bad weather and a couple of very unfortunate radio glitches at the worst possible time.)
Not eager to get home, He was eager to get everyone go to Gran Canaria and back to Amsterdam with little delays as possible. If he goes over his delay quota, he will lose his license and force the airline to pay money for the stayover at Los Rodeos or Gran Canaria.
You forgot the most important thing. Victor had confirmation bias eventhough he should have turned on C3
Thatś right Lyla, he ignored the remark of the engineer (third man in the cocpit) : Did the Pan Am leave the runway???
A very well made video about a truly tragic event. It's unfortunate that in such dynamic and professional industries, it usually takes a horrible mistake to make adequate changes.
Subbed.
R.i.p. all the souls 🙏💐😥
Great video explaining the events of that day. Trained under a trauma surgeon who was one of the first responders at the scene. What also led from this accident was how to treat initial burn injuries and subsequent treatments. Unfortunate incident that led to improvements in air travel and medical treatment.
I cannot imagine having been on a very long flight, with a stop, half way around the world, almost at your destination, having waited for hours in the fog, on the ground, and getting struck by an incredibly irresponsible pilot.
...Tbh: TH-cam has Issues... if you wanna know a way to help,
tell me.
I claim to know one.
Daring claim? Maybe. But i still say so and ask you to ask me about it.
I fought Racism, Sexism, P0rn, Scammer, Spam-Bots
and P-Spam-Bots before - and you can do this too. So my claim.
This is horrific , I love to travel but im almost crippled with the fear of flying , i know its safe , but there is always more safety that could be handled , i wish it was in place this day so that both flights landed safe at the original destination and everyone was still with us today
Can you imagine how the survivors felt about flying again after experiencing this horrific event.
@@noeminoemi1350 i've always had this thought that when you had to endure this kind of near death experience and you survived, it's very unlikely you would face the same scenario twice. It's like your death won't be in an airplane crash. You can still be involved in any other accident, just not the same one you had.
Flying today has never been safer than it is right now.
@@davidalexander7742 oh I know . And statistics are ill die on way to airport over being in aircraft. But my mind goes into overdrive lately. Years ago I was fine . I think it was a few rough flights that kicked off the fear and it just escalated... alcohol helps me alot ... but I don't think I can be drunk on a 14 hour flight to Thailand 🤣🤣🤣
@@GrandWalkingTours maybe it would help if you try to learn a bit about the operations on the flight deck. There are several videos of pilots simulating emergency procedures or Pilots Eye videos of real flights. If you know about the technical parts of an aircraft and what they do in which situation you'll sit in the plane and be sure that everything is fine as you know what is going on. Mid flight there is almost nothing that can happen that would cause the plane to crash. A plane doesn't just brake apart for no reason. Even if for whatever reason all engines would stop running mid flight the planes are designed to glide for about 200 km or more than 100 miles. The exact distance depends on the type of aircraft but it should be enough to safely land at an airport near by. It is also very unusual to have all engines stop working mid flight. They would have to run out of fuel or fly through the ash of a volcano. During takeoffs or landings it is a different story with the possibility of bird strikes but the pilots are trained for these situations. I dabbled with flight simulators and airplanes for years before flying for the first time and I was never scared of it but rather looking forward to it. I simulated the route that we would fly several times before we went on the flight and already knew what exciting views we would get on the approach. My mum was a bit scared of flying and the approach was a bit bumpy so she said she doesn't want to fly again. I knew exactly what was happening and had 100% trust into the aircraft and the pilots. The second time I went on a flight I already went alone (without parents) and had no problem at all. Fear is usually caused by something unknown.
The investigators suggested the reason for this was a desire to leave as soon as possible in order to comply with KLM's duty-time regulations and before the weather deteriorated further. Going over his duty-time quota will lose his license
Better his license than his (and everyone else on the plane's) life, no?
@@dgwdgw he didn't think his life was at risk. He didn't think things through, because he was basically like a rockstar in the world of aviation, and he though he knew better.
Then pilots should be given a chance to opt out of duty time quota,in extraordinary conditions.
@@dgwdgw well, not that I want to justify the klm captain's attitude, but if I were a pilot, losing my license would be like losing my life
@@JustRememberWhoYoureWorkingFor thats so stupid why its the Pilot fault if Gran canaria refusing him to land because of a terrorist, and why its the Pilot fault that he cannot be in time just because of that, the company should be sued not the Pilot. Idk why everyone is so picky about the Pilot if that really was the case he would lose his Liciense. And seriously does the fk matter wich CH Pan am takes they could have been way off sooner from the runaway, there was nowhere any plane in sight that other taxyway or whatever it is.
As cynical as it sounds to admit, without this crash, there’s lots of modern airline systems that likely wouldn’t be in place that prevent this sort of thing from happening again
and it also lead slot ofnthe worlds major airports updating and their ground systems, making it mandatory for said airports to have a fully functioning ground system
I've seen a lot of videos discussing this horrible event but yours is the clearest, & the most detailed. Thank you.
My neighbors parents, aunt, uncle, & friends, one being the ex City Manager of San Jose "Dutch" Hamman, & his wife all perished in what still remains the worst airlines accident in aviation history.
I remember watching tv when they broke in the program for a News Bulletin regarding this horrific accident.
Little did I know then that the parents of my neighbors across the street were on that doomed flight.
So sad! 😢
Huh
😥
I am a survivor and lived in Palo Alto at the time. I have a newspaper clipping from the San Jose Mercury News that features a photo of "Dutch" Hamman.They were travelling with the couple who owned the fruit company "Driscolls" near Sant Cruz and they all died.
This was not accident, it was pure negligence from that stubborn KLM Captain.
So are you ignoring the other causes that was established?
@@kd84afc Regardless of the other circumstances, the entire mishap occurred because he didn't not get proper clearance for take-off from the tower and demanded he and his copilot go full thrust.
Hence the entire reason for Crew Resource Management and Departure being used now.
If all he had done was await proper clearance, KNOWING the situation for what it was and the lack of visibility, no one would have died. Including himself.
Dude sounded like dyatlov
@@this_mfr entire accident occurred due to a number of factors that all played their part in this accident happening.
Fog, delay in refueling that allowed the fog to settle, sending the pan am flight down the runway towards the other plane in heavy fog and ordered to do left turn that was later found impossible to do for a 747, garbled communications which led to misleading communications of them thinking they could take off.
The KLM captain was very wrong, yes, but he wasn't the only one.
putting the entire blame on one man is unfair.
@@this_mfr wrong
I was living in Gran Canaria an island next to Tenerife and still remember the full horror of it all. 🙏🏼🥲
Excellent presentation on how this aviation disaster occured.
Years later, the Pan-Am FO Robert Bragg was interviewed for a documentary at the airport in Tenerife. He looked on the grass and in moments found parts of his aircraft.
What?! Apparently the team members in charge of collecting and preserving evidence were also incompetent. The mind boggles. There have been a lot of programs on the Tererife disaster -- do you happen to recall the name of this particular documentary?
@@jennytice8849 I'll try and find it....it was on TH-cam I saw it....
@@jennytice8849 Found it....20 years later was his first time back at Tenerife. I believe he passed away in 2017. Here's the TH-cam link to the video : th-cam.com/video/YlRO4cuWqDQ/w-d-xo.html
@@23hublock1 Thank you!
Absolutely the best video of this incident. Very informative. Such a shame that communication played such a part in this tragedy.
I am a Maritime professional and I did a course called Maritime Resource Management where the course structure was based on this particular incident. The root cause was miscommunication and misuse of authority.
I remember this accident happening. I was growing up in Orange County, CA. One of my dad’s best friends died In the Pan Am plane. I remember how stunned we were when we heard the news.
Rest in Peace
Let's say 500 people made their sacrifices for today's flight safety. Flying is now the safest mode of transport, partly because of these events.
Agree!
False accidents still can happen while flying
@@jihane1225 No shit, but it's safer now
@@jihane1225 it will never be 100% safe, but it surely is the safest form of transportation
It's still more dangerous than what you're told, if you calculate it per travel which is the only legitimate way to do it then Flying is indeed more dangerous than driving, yes even commercial.
My late grandmother saw this happen from the airport terminal. It was a terrible tragedy and I was truly grateful that it wasn’t her on either plane.
I was looking through youtube for aviation stories to watch with my father and the thumbnail for these two aircraft colliding came up.
Never have I seen someone's face die so quickly... The horror of this incident...
The KLM captain was a senior instructor for the airline and was not used to communicating with ATC on a regular basis. His seniority may have also made it difficult for the flight crew to raise objections on the flight deck
min. 3:36 Only "OK" was heared inside the cabin, due to interferences. That word should be forbiden at airports as it is ambiguous and can lead to a missunderstanding if out of context.
According to Professor Elizabeth Matthews, errors caused by language in aeronautical communications have been "a more frequent and influential factor than has been commonly noted." For Matthews, who has been a consultant for the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), "linguistic problems in aviation are not investigated with the same degree of systematic and expert rigor with which other human and operational factors are considered."
"OK" is now forbidden over ATC communications.
They really didn't go over the full breadth of the reforms caused by Tenerife. Language used in controlled airspace is now extremely specific. Exact phrases are required and all that.
Of course, lax ATC/pilots do still in practice break them. But the general system is far more rigid than the details of what the video detailed. I mean, for one, everyone who is an Air Traffic Controller or a pilot in any country must be an english speaker, second language or otherwise.
@@jinx6777 So as it is said, every crash heads to a revision of regulations and requirement, so in the end makes flying safer. God bless all the lifes it takes so. Thanks for the answer Amber, I didnt know that.
This accident was so avoidable, I feel bad for all the people who died, may they rest on peace
Except for the negligence of the klm captain
I'm Dutch. My ex-fiance's mother lost three familymembers in the Tenerife air disaster. She has never flown again. In about ten days, I'll leave for Tenerife. I'm no longer together with that man, but I'll go to the remembrance site, lay down some flowers and I'll send him a picture of that.
So it'll never be forgotten.
This is what happens when a pilot becomes a celebrity
Chicago, imagine Africa
I'm surviving philly hell hole
His Overconfidence came at the cost of so many lives.
I cannot believe there's commercial airports, where the take off and landing strip, is the same runway. Ridiculously dangerous.
That’s common in most smaller airports
Runways are used for take off and landing. Where there are multiple runways they are chosen based on wind. Never seen a runway dedicated just to taking off or landing.
@@ghostpuppet31 Stick to hoverboards, mate. Get to your departure gate early enough and you'll see the aircraft arrive, passengers disembark, then (after a short cleaning break) the gate crew will start boarding the next flight's passengers. Same gate, same aircraft that never moves.
@@ghostpuppet31 Have you ever actually been at an airport? If you have then you obviously haven't been paying attention.
Your IQ is probably in the double digits.
Important to nOte is that the klm pilot has been in the plane for 17 hours or something and that u cant be in the plane for longer than 18 hours or something otherwise ur licence gets taken thats why he wanted to go so fast that rule was later dismissed because of this accident
Doesn't make any sense since the flight would be longer than one hour anyway. No van Zanten was the poster pilot of KLM back then and an arrogant sack of shit.
Not the license. The crew couldn't fly the plane after a certain time since they would had too many flight hours.
@lander8423 realizing the klm captain was a safety officer; flight instructor. Ironically he had not done a physical flight in many months. Only training other pilots in a simulator situation.
Great job. Thanks for the graphics, I was never able to understand how this accident happened until today.
Came here after the crash in Haneda, Japan. This accident is so heartbreaking
Excellent video, but you have glossed over one detail. You mention radio interference a few times, but never the cause. This happened because two people were trying to send a message at the same time on the same frequency. The messages interfered with each other and as a result neither were received.
Read a book on how someone so experienced could make such a fatal mistake. Normally someone doesn't just ignore instructions especially when visibility is low, but there were so many factors that made captain v zalen eager to take off: his mandatory resting period was coming soon, which meant he had to handover the flight control, the people would have had to be accommodated in hotels had they waited more, which meant expenses for the company, and plus he was tired and overwhelmed by everything. This is not to excuse him, but the whole point of the book was to show we can all make rash decisions given enough stress factors
I didn’t know that they sent a C-130 two days later! That’s nuts but totally understandable- I’m sure Tenerife didn’t have the capacity for mass casualties like that..
The bodies are not going to catch the next connecting flights back home to their families by themselves. Someone always has to clean up the mess.
@@Wildstar40 Wow. That's morbid.
The aviation field is the perfect example of learning from your mistakes and taking measures to prevent them in the first place..
Actually, there is technically one surviving passenger of that klm flight, the story is, a women , robina van lanschot, was with her two friends on the flight, but bc of the airport change, she decided not go on the flight bc she lived on the island, and didn’t think it needed to go back and forth ,she wasn’t aloud to leave at first but she did it anyway, she watched her two friends leave, and never returning
She wasn't on it when the incident occurred, so she wont be considered a survivor. However, she was a survivor of the flight which took off in Amsterdam and landed in Tenerife that day.
she didn’t get on the plane bc her boyfriend was living on the island and instead of waiting she asked the airport if she could leave. she was granted to do so, and headed home with her boyfriend
An exceptionally well produced video. All the facts stated so clearly
The first and only time I rode a plane was in 2004.
I discovered this 10 years later, known as "The Crash Of The Century" and the fact that over 500 people died... still makes me never want to ride a plane ever again.
But...you're not afraid of cars, bicycles, or walking, are you...? All are WAY more dangerous than a plane.
On hearing about the disaster KLM called all their experts together to join the investigation team. The name at the top of the list of senior pilots to lead the team... Van Zanten.
Your channel has so much quality for 2.5 k subs. You deserve hundreds of thousands of subs. Your channel has so much quality.
I can’t believe your channel only has four thousand subscribers, the quality is impeccable.
The KLM captains arrogance and impatience ends up killing 583 innocent people. Crazy how disastrous events can be caused by simple human emotions
All we need is just a little patience.
I think you missed an important aspect/result of this disaster. You did point out that some key communications were not heard because of “interference”, but there’s more to that than simple interference. I watched a documentary on this incident, which pointed out that during the investigation, it was determined that those missed communications were caused by both planes trying to transmit at the same time. The communications equipment in use at the time could only receive input from one source (presumably the strongest) at a time. The result of that discovery was that the communication equipment approved for use by air traffic controllers had to be able to receive from multiple sources simultaneously.
I didn't think this way until I learned more about tragedies like this. I thank every sacrifice made to make me safe when I board commercial flights. So many people have died to have safety protocols in place. Mistakes may still happen but this is 1,000% a testament as to why CRM is needed. I don't wish ill for the dead but that Captain constantly throwing his rank really does piss me off.
I know very little about aviation, but the fact that planes this massive flew in the 70s blows my mind
@jstarASMR3103 for that era the 747 were indeed beautifully designed. Unfortunately this airport was ill equipped to handle not one but two aircraft of this size. They during the day were trying to expedite the smaller craft that were already there prior these aircraft arrived. The weather indeed was a factor; many if's as well. Such an unfortunate incident with many lives lost.
Best explanation yet, thanks.
I feel like accidents either plane or land vehicle are mostly due to impatience and negligence this pilot had both that day
So many of us miss many things of the 70‘s ( and 80‘s), the music, the spirit, the joie de vivre… Well, about transportation safety, and mentality, I am glad we are somewhere else.
I'm from Tenerife, here is a gross fact:
Many people reported the smell of burning and rotting flesh for DAYS in zones near the airport, also, some pieces of it also went to houses near it too...
Thank you for your presentation. This is an example of when you don't follow the rules and feel that you have more legitimacy than everyone else you can cause great harm. Sadly it takes an accident like this to bring about changes to provide more safety.
What height of incompetency!
Control Tower: Weather's bad but let's let a taxiing and taking off aircraft use the same runway
KLM: Hey we're taking off without clearance
Control Tower: I can't hear youuuu
PanAm: Hey we're still on the runway
Control Tower: I can't hear you eitherrrrr
Lalala
*Two large Aircrafts crash on the runway right there*
Control Tower: What was that again?
I mean according to the video, the atc couldn't hear anything. You make it seem as if they heard it but they didn't do anything
The Radio System at Tenerife was old, so if more than one person tried to talk, the interference would make audio impossible to understand.
I didn't know about this tragedy before. This is really heart wrenching.
Great video great video i wish no more accidents like this
Me, watching this, not understanding any of these aircraft terms: *Interesting.*
Same lol
What aircraft terms? Runway?
@PBJMan Well, I would hope I knew what a runway was.
Wow so glad that crashes are super rare these days and blessings to the pilots that get us to point a and point b ❤️🙏🏾